Birds have an active lifestyle and a high metabolism that requires lots of food to fly, maintain biological processes and produce body heat. They need to maintain a light body weight, so birds don't store fat like humans do. In their bodies, fat is used quickly. This is why it's imperative that birds always have a source of food. In the fall and winter, a food supply of worms, berries, nuts and seeds suddenly diminish from their diet and they rely heavily on bird feeders for food. This is why we help them get through the cold seasons.
Question
What type of fat (safflower oil, peanut butter, lard) added to birdseed will birds prefer?
Hypothesis
I think they will prefer the birdseed with lard because it's a stiffer, more concentrated form of fat.
Variables
Independent:The additives with the birdseed, the weather Dependent:How much birdseed mixture the birds will eat Control:The type, color and size of the feeders, the distance between feeders
Materials
birdseed lard peanut butter safflower oil wooden board plastic mat three plastic containers scale nails
Methods
To start my experiment, I put birdseed and 1/4 cup of Safflower oil in my first container, one cup of birdseed and 1/4 of lard in my second container, and one cup of birdseed and 1/4 cup of peanut butter in my third container. I weighed each container in grams, subtracting the container's weight from the total weight of the container and bird seed, logging it into my data. I nailed the plastic mat to the board and put four nails around each container to hold them in place on the plastic mat. I nailed the board into the ledge outside the window. I weighed the containers everyday from 5:00-8:00.
Observations/ Results The first week of my experiment, the weather was rainy and no birds found my feeders. After week one, while comparing the weights of the mixtures, I noticed something strange. While the lard and safflower oil weights stayed the same, the weight of the peanut butter mixture went up. Since it was raining that week, I think some of the moisture in the air was absorbed into the peanut butter mixture thus causing the weight to increase. In week two, I saw four birds at the feeder on Tuesday. When I weighed the feeders that night, I noticed that the weight of each feeder had gone down two or three grams. No other birds were observed that week and the weight of the feeders did not change much. At the beginning of week three, I decided to tape sparkly ribbons and shiny silver paper around the feeders to attract birds. This proved successful in week as a few birds showed up each day and the weights of the mixtures noticeably went down. At the end of my experiment, four grams of the safflower oil mixture and 11 grams of the lard mixture had been eaten. The peanut butter added two grams to its original weight.
Discussion My hypothesis that lard would be the fat that birds prefer was proven correct, but I feel that it would be better proven if there had been more birds at my feeders. It can't be manifest that the shiny materials I used to attract birds did bring more results, (birds could just be finding my feeders on their own after a few weeks) but I think it did help. The rain was an independent variable that effected the number of birds that came to my feeders in the first two weeks. We also have neighbors with loud dogs, so barking may have scared birds away.
Bibliography:
"About Suet, Mealworms, and Other Bird Foods." All About Birds. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 20 Apr. 2009. Web. 27 Sept. 2015.
What Type of Fat do Birds Prefer?
Introduction
Birds have an active lifestyle and a high metabolism that requires lots of food to fly, maintain biological processes and produce body heat. They need to maintain a light body weight, so birds don't store fat like humans do. In their bodies, fat is used quickly. This is why it's imperative that birds always have a source of food. In the fall and winter, a food supply of worms, berries, nuts and seeds suddenly diminish from their diet and they rely heavily on bird feeders for food. This is why we help them get through the cold seasons.Question
What type of fat (safflower oil, peanut butter, lard) added to birdseed will birds prefer?Hypothesis
I think they will prefer the birdseed with lard because it's a stiffer, more concentrated form of fat.Variables
Independent: The additives with the birdseed, the weatherDependent: How much birdseed mixture the birds will eat
Control: The type, color and size of the feeders, the distance between feeders
Materials
birdseedlard
peanut butter
safflower oil
wooden board
plastic mat
three plastic containers
scale
nails
Methods
To start my experiment, I put birdseed and 1/4 cup of Safflower oil in my first container, one cup of birdseed and 1/4 of lard in my second container, and one cup of birdseed and 1/4 cup of peanut butter in my third container. I weighed each container in grams, subtracting the container's weight from the total weight of the container and bird seed, logging it into my data. I nailed the plastic mat to the board and put four nails around each container to hold them in place on the plastic mat. I nailed the board into the ledge outside the window. I weighed the containers everyday from 5:00-8:00.Observations/ Results
The first week of my experiment, the weather was rainy and no birds found my feeders. After week one, while comparing the weights of the mixtures, I noticed something strange. While the lard and safflower oil weights stayed the same, the weight of the peanut butter mixture went up. Since it was raining that week, I think some of the moisture in the air was absorbed into the peanut butter mixture thus causing the weight to increase. In week two, I saw four birds at the feeder on Tuesday. When I weighed the feeders that night, I noticed that the weight of each feeder had gone down two or three grams. No other birds were observed that week and the weight of the feeders did not change much. At the beginning of week three, I decided to tape sparkly ribbons and shiny silver paper around the feeders to attract birds. This proved successful in week as a few birds showed up each day and the weights of the mixtures noticeably went down. At the end of my experiment, four grams of the safflower oil mixture and 11 grams of the lard mixture had been eaten. The peanut butter added two grams to its original weight.
Discussion
My hypothesis that lard would be the fat that birds prefer was proven correct, but I feel that it would be better proven if there had been more birds at my feeders. It can't be manifest that the shiny materials I used to attract birds did bring more results, (birds could just be finding my feeders on their own after a few weeks) but I think it did help. The rain was an independent variable that effected the number of birds that came to my feeders in the first two weeks. We also have neighbors with loud dogs, so barking may have scared birds away.
Bibliography:
"About Suet, Mealworms, and Other Bird Foods." All About Birds. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 20 Apr. 2009. Web. 27 Sept. 2015.
"Feeding Wild Birds." Beauty Of Birds. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2015.
"Why Fat Is a Bird's Best Friend." - Notes on Nature. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2015.
"Feeding Birds & Bird Foods." Bird Feeding and Foods. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.
"FAQ - Why Don't Birds Get Fat?" 'The Zen Birdfeeder' N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.